


sort of like sasuke

by communist_sasuke



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Getting Together, Hatake Kakashi is so Done, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto, Naruto is Just Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto Being an Idiot, but not really bc its them, everyone knows, except naruto, teuchi and ayame make an appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:54:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27241507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/communist_sasuke/pseuds/communist_sasuke
Summary: "Sounds like Sasuke." He deadpans, and Naruto just grins at him."Yeah! She does sorta remind me of him. That's cool."Shikamaru blinks. And blinks again. He stares hard at Naruto, waiting, waiting, waiting-"What?" Naruto asks, and Shikamaru groans in annoyance."You're an idiot."
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 25
Kudos: 252
Collections: Extraordinary SNS Fics💕





	sort of like sasuke

**Author's Note:**

> been thinking a lot recently about the similarities between sasuke and hinata and i thought this would but fun to write

"Sooooo," Sakura starts, not entirely sure how to go about this conversation in the way she wants to without being too direct. Naruto grins at her as she sits next to him.

"Hinata, huh?" She asks, and is somewhat amused at the way Naruto's cheeks dust pink and he looks back into his ramen.

"Uh- eheheh... yeah. Mhm." Naruto stuffs way more food into his mouth than he should. She gets the impression that he doesn't really want to talk about this. She presses forwards anyways.

"How'd that happen?" Naruto takes a ridiculous amount of time chewing.

"Eh, well. You know. She, uh, asked me if I wanted to- ya know." He waves his hand dismissively, taking another huge bite of noodles. Sakura frowns slightly.

"And you said yes?" It's a question, but her tone indicates that it's not. Naruto makes an affirmative sound around his chopsticks.

"Why?"

Naruto all but freezes, inhaling sharply. Sakura's momentarily worried that he'll choke on his food, but he quickly resumes in eating, as if nothing had happened at all.

"What'd'ya mean," He mumbles around the food. Sakura's frown deepens.

"I mean, why did you say yes?"

"Uh, well..." Naruto swallows. "Y'know. She likes me. And... y'know. She's pretty. And nice. And, uh... all that." He waves his hand again, eyes not moving from the ramen. Sakura feels something akin to annoyance stir in her chest.

"But do you want to be with her?" She asks, somewhat tired of treading cautiously around the subject.

"Huh? Why wouldn't I?" Sakura almost rolls her eyes.

"Well, do you even like her, Naruto? Just because she likes you doesn't mean you're inclined to date her." He blanches at that, as if he wasn't aware of that piece of information. Or maybe he was just shocked she'd say it out loud at all.

"Wha- what are you talking about, Sakura-chan? Of course I like her. She's quiet, she's got really nice hair, y'know. It's almost black. And she- she..." He trails off, Sakura feels something twist in her gut.

"Nice hair, huh?" Naruto gives her a questioning glance.

"Um... yeah? It's almost as dark as Sasuke's-" Sakura raises her eyebrows slightly, but Naruto doesn't notice, breezing right over his comment. Like his own words were going right over his head. They probably were. "-I mean, I guess I liked it more when it was shorter, like back when we were kids, but it's still pretty now. She likes it too, I think. So that's- that's good."

Sakura gives him a flat look. He frowns at her.

"What?" 

She continues staring at him for another couple seconds, mentally begging him to just _connect the dots and realize, you idiot,_ but he just keeps giving her a blank, vaguely confused look.

"...Nothing. Enjoy your ramen, Naruto. Tell Hinata I say hi." She gets up and leaves, sighing internally at her teammates idiocy.

. . .

"So, Naruto. You're dating."

Naruto gives Iruka a funny look, but the man can't quite decipher it.

"Yeah," Naruto replies, glancing at him again. Iruka frowns slightly.

"Hinata, right?"

"Yeah."

Iruka blinks, somewhat confused at Naruto's lack of... well... Naruto-ness.

"...Are things going... well?" He asks, feeling slightly uneasy at his former student's mood.

"Yeah, she's great. She really likes me, so that's good, I guess." Iruka frowns.

"You guess? Are you happy with her, Naruto? It's not just about her liking you, you're supposed to like her too, you know." Naruto gives him that same look from before, before shoving his hands into his pockets and scrunching up his face.

"I know that, Iruka-sensei. Sakura-chan said the same thing earlier. Of course I like her. She likes me and she's pretty. She has nice hair." Naruto almost sounds like he's rehearsed this, and Iruka can't help but feel somewhat concerned. He's always concerned when it comes to Naruto, but right now he can sense that something is off with the blond boy.

"Well, that's good." He smiles lightly. "Her hair, huh?"

"Yeah, it's really dark. Almost black, sort of like Sasuke's. It was cooler when it was short but she likes it long now so I think that's cool too." And, _oh_ , Iruka supposed that _that_ explains a lot.

"Like Sasuke's, huh..." He repeats quietly, and Naruto looks over at him, his face still scrunched up.

"Huh? What'd'ya say, Iruka-sensei?" He asks, leaning slightly closer to his old sensei. Iruka just smiles knowingly at him.

"Don't worry about it, Naruto." He pauses, considering his next words. "Are you- are you sure you're happy with Hinata, Naruto? You don't think that there might be anyone else-"

"Naruto! Lend us a hand!" It's Kiba, effectively cutting off the rest of Iruka's words, and Naruto shouts something back at his friend, waving dramatically. After a short (but loud) discussion between the two, Naruto turns back to Iruka.

"What were you saying?"

"Ah- it was nothing," Naruto squints at him, pouting out his lip in annoyance. "Go help Kiba out, I'll take you out for ramen later tonight." Naruto grins at that, agreeing enthusiastically before yelling one last thing out to Kiba and rushing towards the boy with one last wave to Iruka.

He returns the wave with a small one of his own, frowning thoughtfully at Naruto's retreating back. Now this was an interesting turn of events.

. . .

"...What?"

"I asked why you're dating Hinata. You hardly even know her. No offence, but wouldn't someone like Sakura make more sense?" Shikamaru's tone was bored, as per usual. He sort of felt as if he'd somewhat upset Naruto, but he couldn't be bothered to be too concerned about it. The blond was always too intense with his emotions anyways, that wasn't Shikamaru's issue.

"Hey! I- I know her!" His tone was indignant, but Shikamaru just rolled his eyes at Naruto before closing them again. He had just wanted to take a nap in peace.

"Really." He drawls. "What's her favourite colour?"

A pause.

"...Well-"

"Favourite food."

"That's not-"

"What's her sister's name?"

"...She has a-? Um." Shikamaru gives Naruto a flat look. The blond cringes slightly.

"W-well! We've only been together a couple weeks, so it's not like I know everything about her yet!" He sputters, and Shikamaru decides to stop pointing out the obvious for a moment, feeling as if Naruto had gotten the message.

"Usually you do the basic 'get to know you' thing _before_ you start dating." Naruto opens his mouth, but Shikamaru interrupts him. "Just saying."

Naruto is startlingly quiet for a few moments, and Shikamaru takes that time to try to continue napping. It's interrupted shortly though, as Naruto exhales loudly before flopping down in the grass next to him.

"...Maybe... I don't know. Maybe I'm not the best boyfriend." Shikamaru snorts in amusement at that, but when he opens his eyes and sees Naruto's somewhat pained look, he quickly falls silent, mentally planning on where he wants this conversation to go.

"Well, you just have to try a bit harder, Naruto. No offence but it doesn't really seem like you're putting in much of an effort. I mean, do you even _like_ the girl?"

Naruto groans and puts his hands over his eyes, rolling around slightly.

"I don't know! I thought I did, because, you know, there's stuff I like _about_ her, but apparently I barely even know her! Can you really like someone you don't know? But she likes me, and we've hardly ever talked, so she can't know me that well either, right?" Shikamaru extracts the important points from Naruto's ramble, and comes to one conclusion: he really _doesn't_ like her.

"You said there's stuff you like about her? What sort of stuff?" He wants to help Naruto, yes, but even more than that, he doesn't want the blond to accidentally do some unnecessary damage to their old classmate. He realizes he has to tread somewhat carefully here.

"Well, she's pretty. Her skin is pale and her hair is dark-- it's almost black. And she's got this quiet nature, but she's powerful and you can just sorta tell." Naruto seems to be deep in thought. Shikamaru doesn't have to be deep in thought to figure out what's going on here.

"Sounds like Sasuke." He deadpans, and Naruto just grins at him.

"Yeah! She does sorta remind me of him. That's cool." 

Shikamaru blinks. And blinks again. He stares hard at Naruto, waiting, waiting, waiting-

"What?" Naruto asks, and Shikamaru groans in annoyance.

"You're an idiot." He mutters, leaning back and closing his eyes, hoping to squeeze in another couple minutes of rest before he has to start his mission. "I'm not helping an idiot."

Naruto squawks at him, yelling about how Shikamaru is the real idiot, and he keeps this up for about ten seconds before falling quiet. Shikamaru hears him stand up, muttering something about self absorbed bastards, before stomping away in annoyance.

Shikamaru comes to two conclusions: Naruto doesn't like Hinata. And of course, Shikamaru kind of berates himself for not realizing sooner, Naruto likes someone else. A completely different, maybe just a tiny bit too similar someone else. He sighs in annoyance, pushing the loud blond and his relationship issues from his mind.

"What a drag."

. . .

"Kaka-sensei, I need to borrow one of your books."

Kakashi starts somewhat, closing the book he's currently reading and tucking it into his pocket, meeting Naruto's determined gaze somewhat warily.

"...Why?" He starts slowly, really not wanting in the slightest to find out what his former student could be up to.

"Not for any perverted reasons, like you Kaka-sensei. I just wanted to-" He pauses, and his uncertainty only makes the jonin more unnerved. Naruto was rarely uncertain about things.

"Well... I want to know what it feels like to like someone. Y'know. to _l_ _ike_ like someone." 

If Kakashi wasn't so confused, he would have been amused by Naruto's childish phrasing. His brow furrowed.

"Why would that be necessary? Do you think you're ...interested in someone?" He can't imagine that Naruto's figured it out on his own. The blond was never known for being very in tune with his emotions, especially emotions like these. But maybe...

Naruto muttered something under his breath, before holding a hand out and meeting Kakashi's eyes again, an expectant look on his face.

When Kakashi just stared blankly at him, he huffed in annoyance and rolled his eyes, gesturing with his hand. "The book." He pointed out, and Kakashi squinted at him.

"Naruto, what's this about?"

"Ugh! Fine!" Naruto exploded, throwing his hands up in annoyance. "I'm dating Hinata and I thought it was all good and fine because she really likes me, she told me plenty, and I thought that I liked her because... Well... There's things I like _about_ her but then Sakura-chan and Iruka-sensei and even Shikamaru, _Shikamaru_ , started asking me all kinds of questions and now I'm all confused and I don't know if I like her so I need one of your pervy books so I can find out!" He finally stopped, somewhat breathless, and Kakashi just stared.

"...You're dating _Hinata?"_ He asked, after a moment. Naruto groaned in annoyance again.

" _Yes!_ Is that all you got from that?" Kakashi continued giving him the same look.

"Why?"

"What do you- You know what, forget it! I don't need your stupid book anyway." Naruto crosses his arms and turns to walk away, and Kakashi can clearly tell his student is in a state of distress, so he decides to be a good sensei and grabs the boy's elbow to stop him.

"Naruto, I don't think these books are going to help you find out anything like... that. But I can try to help you if you want to talk." Naruto squints at him over his shoulder, as if he doesn't believe him. Kakashi can't really blame him, he's never been known to offer emotional support. 

"...Fine. But how are _you_ gonna help _me?_ I mean- have you ever even dated someone?" Naruto says, turning back around to face his sensei. Kakashi just rolls his eyes.

"I probably know more than you do, considering." Naruto huffs again.

"What do you like about her?" He asks, feeling somewhat awkward about the whole situation. Naruto considers the question for a moment before answering.

"She's pretty, I guess. She's pale, and has really dark hair. And she's powerful, even though she seems really quiet and reserved, you can tell she has all this strength just underneath the surface. Which is cool. And she's- she- well... She really likes me, and she's pretty and nice and all that, so... Shouldn't I like her too?" Kakashi doesn't remember the last time he heard Naruto's voice so... unsure. He briefly goes over the things the other boy had listed in his head and wants to put his head in his hands when he realizes why Naruto thinks he likes the girl.

"Naruto," He starts, leveling Naruto with a flat look. Naruto meets his eyes expectantly.

"Just date Sasuke already."

Naruto blanches, confusion overtaking his features.

"Huh? This isn't the time for jokes, Kaka-sensei, I'm actually asking for advice here." Kakashi stares at Naruto, not sure how to make his point more clear after literally stating it out loud, yet Naruto is just frowning at him, half confused and half annoyed. Kakashi can relate.

"You're welcome." Is all he says, smiling sweetly before disappearing in a rush of wind, leaving Naruto to _hopefully_ think about what he said.

. . .

"Kaka-sensei is _such_ a weirdo. I hate him." Naruto complains loudly, and Hinata can't even remember how the conversation had shifted to this, but she listens patiently anyways. She supposes she's stalling for time at this point, not entirely wanting to say what she knows she has to.

"I mean, who _says_ something like that!? I was really trying to ask for advice and he starts making all kinds of- of- ugh! He's so infuriating!" Naruto throws his hands up in the air in annoyance, glaring at the ground as they walk. 

When Naruto quiets down, they walk in silence for a few minutes, before Hinata begins to feel somewhat suffocated by it. She stops in her tracks and Naruto only gets a few steps ahead of her before realizing and coming to a halt, turning to give her an inquisitive look.

"Hinata?" She takes a deep breath and steels herself. She _has_ to ask this. She has to know.

"Naruto-kun... Don't- don't take this the wrong way but... Why did you- why exactly did you say yes when I... asked you to be with me?" She swallows as soon as the words have left her mouth, as if she could somehow suck them back in. She feels as if the atmosphere has grown somewhat tense, understandably so. She doesn't meet Naruto's eyes.

"Uh- uh... Why are you- Um." Naruto stumbles over his words, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck in a nervous gesture that she doesn't see a lot of. She has a sudden urge to apologize for bringing it up, but she couldn't just let the question sit in her chest any longer.

"What made you want to be with me, Naruto-kun?" Her voice doesn't shake this time, and she finally meets his eyes. His blue ones are darting around though, not willing to meet her own. She gets a sinking feeling in her chest.

"W- well... You asked me..? I mean- I know you really like me, Hinata, and I- y'know... You're pretty and quiet and nice and uh... I like your hair..? It's really dark and pretty, y'know? So I thought... Since you like me so much, I should- y'know. Like you too?" His voice was unsure, ridiculously so, and Hinata felt guilt tugging at her gut. She felt sick.

When she had approached Naruto, she'd decided it was, sort of, her last attempt. She'd try once more, and if it didn't go well she'd give up. She couldn't spend the rest of her life chasing after someone who didn't care for her in the same way. She hadn't even expected Naruto to say yes, and when he had, she was too shocked to notice his uncertainty. But as the weeks passed, it became more and more clear that Naruto didn't feel the same way about her that she did about him.

Not to mention the things he'd said he liked about her sounded familiar... Almost _too_ familiar. And suddenly, a lot of things made a lot of sense.

"Naruto-kun. It's okay if you don't feel the same way about me. You don't have to, even if I like you." Naruto's eyes snapped to hers, and she could see the guilt swimming in them. She didn't want that.

"I want you to be happy, Naruto-kun. I don't want to force you into something that you don't want."

"Hinata-"

"It's okay, Naruto-kun. I'll be okay." She reached for his hand, gently taking it in her own, his eyes fell to their joined hands before meeting hers again. "It's better this way. For both of us."

"Hinata, I'm sorry. I thought-" She cut him off with a smile, squeezing his hand lightly before letting it go entirely.

"You don't have to be sorry, Naruto-kun. We'll always be friends, right?" Naruto finally smiles at that, much smaller than one of his usual ones, but it's something.

"Of course we will," He says, and Hinata returns his smile, before turning her back on him and walking away. Somehow, she felt lighter than she had in years.

As Naruto watched her walk away from him, he felt a strange sense of relief, on top of the underlying guilt. He wondered again and again why he couldn't love Hinata Hyuuga.

. . .

"Are you still dating that Hyuuga girl?" Naruto jolts at the unexpected change of topic. He blinks at Sasuke a few times, somewhat confused.

"Huh? How did you..?"

"Sakura told me." Naruto blinks some more, because since when had Sasuke and Sakura been talking? A somewhat bitter feeling rose in his chest. He ignored it.

"Ah- oh. Um... Hinata, um. We broke up." He says, feeling more awkward than upset.

"Oh." Naruto turns to look at his friend, and notices Sasuke... _smiling?_

"Hey, bastard, why do you look so happy? You've never even had a girlfriend, so I've already one-upped you on that-"

"Why?" Sasuke interrupts, and Naruto's words die in his throat.

"...What?" Sasuke turns to meet his eyes, and Naruto immediately feels trapped by them. He swallows, his mouth suddenly dry.

"Why did you date her?" Naruto blinks again. _Why does everyone keep asking him that?_

"Uh- she liked me? And, um... She's pretty and has nice hair, I guess? It's not black but it's still pretty dark. And she's sort of... cool? Like, she's all quiet and reserved but she's obviously powerful, you can sorta feel it... Uh- I don't know. She sort of reminded me of you." And as soon as the words left Naruto's mouth, and he noticed how... _flushed?_ Sasuke looked, the realization of what he'd just said hit him like a truck.

Sasuke didn't say anything, just kept looking at him like he was an idiot, but somehow differently from the way he usually did. He looked... embarrassed? Flustered? Naruto could hardly recognize the expression on his friend.

"I- Oh. _Oh_." Naruto stared, wide-eyed at Sasuke. His heart was pounding in his throat and he could feel his face heating up.

"Naruto... _You_ -" Sasuke's tone was laced with frustration, but he sounded more embarrassed than actually angry.

"I-! I didn't-!" Naruto's defenses flared up and he immediately wanted to deny what he had just implied, but for some reason he couldn't force the words out. They'd feel like lies anyway. Wait- _what?_

"Oh. Um- ...Sasuke?" He watched as the Uchiha's mismatched eyes narrowed, his friend finally regaining some of his composure. Naruto, on the other hand, felt like he was losing his more and more.

"I think I- I- Oh, I don't think Kaka-sensei was joking." He realized a lot of things at once. Sasuke only grew more confused.

"What." He deadpanned, and Naruto stared at him.

"And Shikamaru- and Iruka-sensei- oh my god! Sakura-chan... Everyone! _I can't believe I said that-"_

"Naruto, what the hell are you talking about." Sasuke cut him off, tone forcibly reserved, before he could spiral further into his thoughts and embarrassment because _he really told everyone that he liked Hinata because she reminded him of Sasuke, he really said that, oh my god-_

"Dobe. Explain."

Naurto chuckled awkwardly, looking at the ground, not wanting to risk meeting Sasuke's eyes again as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um- I think I, uh... Love you?" And as soon as he'd said it, actually voiced his feelings out loud, he realized that-

"Yeah, I definitely do."

Sasuke went quiet at that, neither boy saying anything for a few moments, but it felt more like decades, the silence between them stretching on and on and on-

"Usuratonkachi." 

As if on instinct, Naruto jolted his head up to lock eyes with Sasuke, an affronted retort on the tip of his tongue when Sasuke- when Sasuke-

The Uchiha had leaned forward into the space between them and- and- and-

_Oh._

Naruto was frozen. Sasuke was _kissing him_ and Naruto had gone stock still, his mind going completely blank.

It was only when Sasuke started pulling away, Naruto sensing his hesitation, that he was able to move again. He grabbed Sasuke by the back of his neck and pulled the other boy back towards himself, pressing their lips together again.

And wow- _wow_ , nothing had ever felt so _right_ -

Sasuke's body moved closer to his own and Naruto followed the movement, pushing himself further towards the Uchiha's as well. He tilted his head and when Sasuke pulled his bottom lip into his mouth, Naruto's brain short circuited.

Sasuke pulled back after a moment, keeping his face close to Naruto's. The blond blinked as he tried to clear his head, wanting nothing more than to pull Sasuke toward him again.

He only realized he was staring at Sasuke's lips when they quirked up in a smug smirk. 

"Me too, dumbass." Naruto's eyes jerked up to meet Sasuke's, and he fixed him with a halfhearted glare.

"Teme." He hissed, but something warm exploded in he chest when he realized what Sasuke was implying. He couldn't help the grin that spread over his face. Sasuke's smirk turned softer, and Naruto's heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

He was about to pull Sasuke back towards him, when a loud cough interrupted them. He was abruptly brought back to reality outside of the boy sitting beside him.

"Well, it's lovely that you two have figured everything out, but this _is_ a public restaurant. In case you needed reminding." Both boys' heads snapped in the direction of the voice, and Naruto grimaced slightly at Kakashi smiling sweetly at them.

When his words sank in, though, Naruto leaned back into his seat, regrettably away from Sasuke, offering a sheepish look and a small 'sorry' at the other shinobi sitting a few seats away from them, staring at them with wide eyes. 

"Finally! What did I say, Pa? Like, five years ago? You definitely owe me at _least_ a few hundred ryo!" Naruto's mouth fell open at Ayame's words, crossing his arms in annoyance and grumbling a few halfhearted insults when she just sent him a wink before holding out her hand to her father, obviously expecting some kind of prize.

"It was never really much of a gamble, Ayame. We all knew it was practically inevitable." It's Teuchi this time, and Naruto opens his mouth to no doubt bark out some sort of retort, but before he can say a word, Sasuke grabs him by the shoulder and, in a whoosh of air, he's suddenly standing in his apartment.

"Wh- Sasuke! What was that for!?" He growls, not willing to admit he's sort of glad to be out of that somewhat awkward situation.

"This." Is all the Uchiha says before pulling Naruto in by his shirt and slotting their lips together.

Naruto hums against the other's mouth, pulling Sasuke closer to himself. 

Yeah, he thinks he could get used to this.


End file.
